This
pleasant wooded area was the focal point of
ancient Athens, the centre of commercial, political and
social life (for men that is, the only women here were
prostitutes and poor women pedlars.)
It was here that Socrates expounded his
philosophy, and men debated, argued and generally put the
world to rights, and where, later, Saint Paul
preached. It contains the ruins of the 4th century temple
of Apollo, and the remarkably well preserved temple to
Hephaistos (Vulcan), the patron of blacksmiths and
metalworkers. Also erroneously known as the Thesion, this
temple escaped destruction as it was used as a church,
the wooden ceiling being replaced with a barrelled vault
(which you can glimpse inside).
Built about the same time as the Parthenon it has the classical
form of 6 x 13 Doric columns with Ionic
friezes.

Do
visit the museum, contained in the reconstructed Stoa
of Attalos(originally 2nd century BC). Here you can
see charming everyday objects from graves, an amazing balloting
machine, a child's potty and the óstraka,
pieces of pot on which names of those thought to be a
threat were scratched, a water clock for lawyers (to stop
them talking too much!), a 5th century portable oven, a
clay sieve and a clay sausage grill. The exhibits cover a
wide period form Mycenaean to Byzantine.

Tower of the Winds

In the Roman
Agora is this well preserved monument known as the
Horologium of Andronikos Kyrrhestes who built it around
100 BC for measuring time by means of a clepsydraor
water-clock internally (powered by water running
from the Akropolis) and a sun dial externally. The
building is made of Pentelic marble and stands on a
stylobate of 3 steps. It is octagonal, its eight sides
facing the more important points of the compass. Above
incised lines forming the sun dial are sculpted figures
representing the eight principal winds. On the north-east
and north-west sides are porticoes with fluted Corinthian
columns. The conical marble roof originally had a bronze
weather vane on the top.

Kerameikós was the potter's
quarter of ancient Athens, (hence our word
'ceramic'.) The cemetery, which was used from the 12th
century BC until Roman times, is in a beautiful, peaceful
setting, on the Sacred Way, partly outside, partly
inside the city walls. It contained hundreds of graves,
many along the so called Street of Tombs, marked
by huge vases, stelae and miniature temples. The graves
got more and more fancy and ostentatious until eventually
a law was brought in forbidding elaborate graves! Most of
those we see today are from the Classical period, many
can still be seen in situ, some are in the excellent
museum on the site and many more are in the National
Archaeological museum.

In
the Kerameikós museum don't miss the wonderful
square kouros base with a fight between a boar and
a lion, the relief of Ampharete with her
grand-child, the Sphynx, the 4 horsemen, (Room 1)
and in the courtyard the magnificent marble bull
(a copy is outside).

The Temple of Olympian Zeusat the end
of Adrianou (to the south east of the Akropolis)

This temple
was the largest in ancient Greece, and also took the
longest to build. It was begun in the 6th century BC but
not completed until AD 130 ! Although dedicated to Zeus,
the Roman emperor Hadrian got in on the act by having a
cult statue in his image as well! Most of its 104
Corinthian columns have gone but a group of thirteen
remain standing